


Museum Days With Mom

by swanqueenfic13



Series: Little Luthor [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Kara is a preschool teacher, Lena's a single mom, Little bit of plot at the end, Museums, Science museums, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, this is so fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 21:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9404591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanqueenfic13/pseuds/swanqueenfic13
Summary: Lena was terrified that if she spent all of her time with Kara, Lydia would start to feel forgotten. Kara had suggested spending a whole day, just Lena and Lydia. If they hung out together, without Kara, Lydia wouldn’t fear to lose her bond with her mother.Or: Lena and Lydia spend an entire day at the children's science museum and run into some familiar faces while they're there.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is all in the same universe as my other Little Luthor stories but could be read as a stand-alone (though things definitely make more sense if you read them all)

“Any big plans for the weekend?” Kara grins knowingly when Lena arrives to pick Lydia up on Friday afternoon. Lena was terrified that if she spent all of her time with Kara, Lydia would start to feel forgotten. They’d spent evenings talking about it over dinner and drinks and texts and on park benches. Kara had suggested spending a whole day, just Lena and Lydia. If they hung out together, without Kara, Lydia wouldn’t fear losing her bond with her mother.

“We do, right Lyd? Tell Miss Kara what we’re doing this weekend,” she whispers when she picks up her daughter, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Lydia giggles.

“Science place!” she says excitedly. “Mommy’s takin’ me to the science place! Just a Mommy and Lydia day on Sunday.” She turns to kiss her mother on the cheek. Lena positively beams, though she knew Lydia would be impatient and antsy all of Saturday- maybe Lena would ply her with a movie night at home and some ice cream to keep her from driving Lena up a wall in anticipation of their day at the museum on Sunday.

“The National City children’s museum of science,” Lena explains. “We’re gonna make a whole day of it, right babe? We’re going to make waffles for breakfast then go to the museum and see all the cool exhibits and touch all the stuff. We’ll have a special lunch in the museum and maybe even go out for dinner, hmm? And if you’re extra good, we might even get a toy.” Lena whispers the last part more to her daughter, watching as Lydia squeals and starts to wiggle in her arms.

“That sounds like a lot of fun. Is that museum good? Maggie’s kid is a huge science nerd, and so is my sister. Maybe they can go sometime.” Kara grins and tickles Lydia’s chin.

“Oh, the museum is great. Informational, but all of the exhibits make it fun. Kids are encouraged to interact and touch. It’s a good time for kids _and_ adults. So, we will see you on Monday, Miss Kara. Bye babe.” She leans in and presses a quick kiss to Kara’s cheek.

“Bye miss Kawa,” Lydia smiles, waving and blowing a kiss. Kara just grins and ‘catches’ the kiss. She watches Lena and Lydia get situated in their car before reaching under the desk to text Alex and tell her about that museum.

 

“Mommy, mommy, let’s go!” Lydia was kicking and wiggling in her car seat as Lena parked the car in the underground lot. All morning Lydia had been rushing them. She ate her pancakes in three minutes, didn’t even want to watch cartoons and tried to dress herself to speed things up. As it was, Lena just smiled and helped Lydia along, fixing her clothes. Lydia had dressed herself in a pair of fake cloth jeans and a space t-shirt. Lena completed the outfit with a pink and black jacket, tiny toddler sneakers and two braids in her hair.

“I’m coming, peanut,” Lena laughs. She fixes her own jacket covering her old engineering t-shirt from college before grabbing the large purse (Lydia may be out of diapers but she still certainly needed the space in her bag for toddler things). Lydia was still squirming as she unbuckled the seatbelt.

“Now, wait just a second. Listen to me, Lydia Luthor. Are you listening?” Lena kept a hand on Lydia’s belly, not letting her squirm out of the seat just yet.

“Yeah mommy,” Lydia nods. She looks up at her mother earnestly, grinning and showing off her dimples.

“Good girl. Now, there’s gonna be a lot of other people here. You can’t run away from me. I want you to hold my hand when we’re walking, okay? I don’t want to lose you in the crowd.”

“Okay, mama, I promise. Now let’s _go_!” Laughing, Lena nods and lets Lydia lead her by the hand into the children’s museum.

 

“And who wants to be my last helper? I need someone to help me show how we can use water to make energy!” The young man presenting peers around the auditorium. He’s dressed in a labcoat with his hair spiked up and comically large goggles perched on his forehead. Lydia is jumping in the aisle next to their seats, waving her hand while her mother took a short video on her phone. “How about you, little lady? Is that alright with mom?” To Lydia’s delight, he points at her.

“Go, go!” Lena laughs, urging Lydia down the steps and into the front stage. Lydia giggles, jumping up and down. The crowd laughs and Lena shifts to capture this on her phone. _Kara would love to see this_ , she thinks with a smile.

“So, what’s your name, little miss?” the man asks, bending down to give Lydia access to the microphone.

“Lydia!”

“Oh, Lydia you’re a scientist now! Do you know what that means?”

“A scientist like mommy!” Lydia points towards her mother. The crowd lets out a collective ‘awww’ but the man just smiles.

“Well if mom is a scientist you must know. Most scientists like to be called _doctor_. So, if you’re a scientist and scientists are called doctor, then what’s your name again?” Lydia smiles big.

“Dr. Lydia!”

“Good job, Dr. Lydia. And how old are you?”

“Free and a half!” Lydia holds up three chubby little fingers.

“Do you like to swim, Lydia?” She nods. “Have you ever seen the Hoover dam?”

Scandalized, Lydia crooks her finger at him and whispers, “Mommy says that’s a bad word.” The crowd laughs when he angles the microphone so everyone can hear this.

“Not when we’re talking about a _hydroelectric_ dam. Do you know what _hydroelectric_ means?”

“‘Lectric like… ‘lectricity?”

“Yes! Good girl, Dr. Lydia. A hydroelectric dam holds the water back and channels it to make energy. Will you help me find out how?” Lydia smiles and nods as he leads her to a model of an electric dam. Throughout his demonstration, he starts asking Lydia to do little things to help her understand. When he finally sends her back to her seat, she’s giddy and skipping, wriggling in her seat while he concludes the presentation with a plea for people to use smarter forms of energy. Lydia couldn’t seem to care less; she was just excited he gave her a _real scientist magnifying glass, Mommy!_

She keeps chattering on about how much fun that was while Lena leads them on to another exhibit.

 

“Mommy, I wanna go see the Superman stuff,” Lydia whines, rubbing at her eyes. After lunch in the museum cafe, they’d explored an exhibit on construction and machinery. Lena quickly realized the signs of Lydia getting tired and cranky and scooped her up before winding their way into the planetarium section.

“I know, Lyd. But first, Mommy wants to see the stars. Can we do that?” Lydia grumbled unhappily but doesn’t make any other complaints and rests her head on Lena’s shoulder

“Someone looks a little sleepy,” the worker at the entrance said, smiling at Lydia. She turns to Lena. “The informational video just started but there’s not many people in there. All you missed is the big bang.”

“Oh, well, if that’s all,” Lena laughs. The woman smiles. “Thank you.” The theater room is circular, lined with rows and rows of chairs. No more than fifteen are filled. It’s dark and cool and Lena can feel Lydia muffling a yawn. In the center of the room is a large machine projecting the images of stars onto the ceiling. A deep, calming voice narrates with the stories behind the constellations while they’re highlighted on the ceiling. Lena finds a spot and reclines the chair so she can better see the stars. Lydia nestles into her chest and Lena waits for her breathing to slow, focusing on the stars while she lets her daughter nap.

 _“Orion is the most commonly recognized constellation. It depicts a great warrior from the Greek lore. Though stories differ on his parentage, Orion was known as the best hunter until he was felled by a scorpion. In some versions of the story, Orion was killed by the virgin huntress Artemis, her lover who had been tricked into murder by her brother. Horrified by what she had done, she cast him among the stars_ ,” the voice drones. Lena just kisses Lydia’s forehead and lets her sleep for a little while, content to listen to the old myths.

 

Lena didn’t particularly want to look around the exhibit on Superman and his birthplace. She was a Luthor, after all. It would not look good for her to look too interested in anything related to the superhero, even if she had been cut off and disowned after she got pregnant. She had already been on thin ice after she disavowed Lex in an interview after his arrest. And sure, she’d been out of the spotlight for almost four years but she can only imagine the headlines if someone recognizes her, or worse, gets a picture of her studying the exhibit.

Fortunately, the exhibit is mostly in one room geared toward children. There’s only one exit so Lena stands over there, content to watch as Lydia looks at the pictures and plays around with the displays. She takes the moment to text Kara and send her the video of Lydia in the energy show. She watches Lydia out of the corner of her eye as she plays with the other kids.

Lena’s head snaps up when she hears Lydia cry out.

“Lydia?” she calls. The room is crowded and she can’t find Lydia at first glance. She moves through the crowd to find her daughter in the arms of someone else. “Excuse me, that’s my daughter,” she says sternly. When the person turns around, she realizes it’s also a child.

“Sorry, miss. A kid ran past and knocked her down. She got scared and bumped her head, so I just helped her up. We were just about to go looking for you,” the girl explains while Lydia climbs across her lap and into Lena’s.

“Oh, did you bump your head, little one?” Lena whispers. Lydia nods, sniffling.

“Jamie made it feel better,” she admits.

“Oh, your name is Jamie? Thank you very much for helping my Lydia. How old are you? Who are you here with? Can I help you find someone?” Lena asks. Jamie is just turning to look through the crowd when two women come rushing over.

“Hey, Jamie, what are you doing on the ground?” the shorter woman asks.

“Who are you?” the taller woman asks, glaring down at Lena as she helps Jamie to her feet. With Lydia still clinging to her like a koala, Lena awkwardly clambers to her feet.

“Lena, and this is my daughter Lydia. Jamie was just helping her up when she fell. How are you?” Lena offers her hand. The woman with the reddish brown hair just stares while the shorter woman snorts and takes it.

“Maggie Sawyer. This is my daughter Jamie.”

“Well, you two have certainly raised her to be a helpful young lady,” Lena smiles.

“I try,” Maggie laughs, putting an arm round her daughter- who is close to her height. “Alex, babe, introduce yourself.” Maggie elbows the taller woman- Alex. Lydia finally raises her head and squirms to be put down on the ground. Maggie waves and smiles at her while Alex hesitantly takes Lena’s hand.

“Alex Danvers. You’re Lena Luthor. Dating my sister.” She arches one eyebrow as Lena blushed, ashamed that she hadn’t put it together quicker (she _knew_ Alex and Maggie looked familiar).

“Yes, I am. Glad to finally meet you.” Alex nods sharply, dropping Lena’s hand and looking her up and down, making no attempt to hide her appraisal.

“Al, babe, maybe we could all go get something to drink?” Maggie suggests softly, glancing back at Lena. “I bet Jamie could use a snack or something.” When Alex doesn’t respond, Maggie bumps her hip and Alex glances over at her to find Maggie smiling so her dimples are on full display and she tilts her head and quirks one eyebrow and just like that, Lena can see Alex’s resolve faltering.

“Lena, you wanna come get a drink with us? We were just on our way to the climbing maze, right Jamie?” The girl nods eagerly.

“Sure. If Lydia is okay with that,” she adds. But Lydia is already holding Jamie’s hand, trying to pull the older girl out the door. “Looks like they’re already headed out. We’d better go catch them before Lydia convinces Jamie to start running. I swear, that kid could run the world one day.” Maggie chuckles and Alex smirks and they follow their girls to the coffee shop on the way to the outdoor climbing equipment.

 

“So, Jamie’s what- nine?” Lena asks conversationally. They’re all lounging on a bench with coffees while their kids are inside the climbing maze. It’s a three-story structure encased in safety netting. There are dozens of bright green platforms tilted at gentle angles allowing kids an uneven terrain to climb through on their way to a small exhibit about mountains and mountaineers before they climb into a slide that brings them down.

“Ten,” Maggie corrects her. “She’s in fifth grade. And Kara’s already mentioned that she met you and Lydia through Sunny Start so she’s three?” Lena nods. “And what do you do, Lena?”

“Ah, I’m an engineer by trade, business woman by necessity. I run a small tech company in the city. And you? Kara mentioned you were both in law enforcement?”

“I’m a detective with NCPD in the science division.” Lena thinks it makes sense with the way she’s been glancing around every few seconds, always aware of what’s going on. It’s more than just a mother’s need to watch out for her child.

“And I… I work with the FBI. I’m an agent, but I also work as a bioengineer and forensic analyst so-”

“So basically, we’re a family of big old nerds,” Maggie interrupts with a laugh.

“That’s impressive,” Lena smiles. As the girls climb higher, Lena stands and moves to the observation deck stationed so it’s about halfway up and across from the climbing structure. The three women all smile, watching through the netting as Jamie helps Lydia up each platform. They chat amiably about nothing in particular until their girls’ shouts draw their attention away.

“Mama! Mom!” Jamie calls down, waving from the top.

“Mommy! Mommy!” Lydia laughs, jumping up and down. Both Maggie and Lena pull out their phones to take pictures right up until the girls disappear into the covered slide. Their mothers rush down the stairs to meet them at the bottom of the slide to find Lydia giggling on Jamie’s lap as they come tumbling down onto the mat. The girls are laughing, tripping over themselves to tell their respective parents about the climb.

“Alright, well, we’re headed to the evolution and genealogy exhibit,” Alex explains, beaming at Jamie and ruffling her hair before turning to give Lena a smaller, but just as genuine smile. “Where are you guys going?”

“Well, we started in the evolution one. I think we’re headed to the energy playroom and then we’re headed off for a nice dinner. It was good seeing you, though,” Lena smiles. Lydia pouts up at her mother as if that would change their plans.

“Oh, we should get a picture for Kara. She’ll be _so_ jealous,” Maggie says with a smirk. Lena feels a little guilty because she had intended for this to be a Mom and Lydia day, not an everyone-but-Kara day. Before she can even start to feel too guilty, Maggie has stopped a passing stranger to take the picture with her phone and arranging them all. Alex ends up in the middle as the tallest with her arm around Maggie’s waist and one hand perched somewhat awkwardly on Lena’s shoulder. Jamie stands in front of Alex and Maggie holding a beaming Lydia’s hand. Lena inputs her number into Maggie’s phone so she can send her the picture before they part ways.

 

They leave an hour later with Lena toting far too much merchandise (if she’s being honest, most of it is for her rather than Lydia). Lena tries to convince Lydia to leave her new plush moon, complete with an adorable little face and limbs, in the car while they head to the restaurant for a nice dinner. Unfortunately, preschool seems to have taught Lydia some new words.

“Mommy, can’t we… c-c-com-pro-mise?” Lydia sounds out the word carefully. Lena just laughs.

“Go ahead,” she offers.

“I bring my new friend to eat and I don’t cry at bedtime,” Lydia says, smiling triumphantly.

“Well, I suppose that sounds like a good trade. Where did you learn such a big word?” She’s unbuckling Lydia now, bringing her into the restaurant as Lydia launches into a story about Miss Julie teaching them all about sharing and how Miss Jenny likes to teach them new words during story time and isn’t Mommy proud of her for remembering?

Lena just smiles and listens to Lydia’s stories all through dinner.

 

Hours later, after Lydia has taken her bath and fallen asleep with Chewy and Moony (her new best friend) tucked under her arms, she sees the missed call from Kara. Smiling, she calls her girlfriend back.

 _“You met Alex and Maggie! Was Alex nice? I hope she was nice. Sometimes she’s a little gruff and everything, but she’s really a softie. Oh, and how was Jamie? She’s cute, right?”_ Kara starts chattering before Lena can even greet her. Her soft laughter interrupts Kara’s rambling. _“Oh, sorry. Hi babe. How was your day?”_

“Hi Kara,” Lena says with a teasing tone. “My day was great. And I did meet your sister and Maggie and Jamie. Maggie was very friendly- and very funny. And Alex… Alex was a little withdrawn at first, I will be honest. But she warmed up a bit. And Jamie was _very_ sweet, especially with Lydia. That’s actually the only reason I met them- Lydia fell down and Jamie was helping her.”

 _“Aw, that’s so sweet!”_ Kara coos. Lena can hear the smile in her voice.

“It was. We got something to drink while the kids played on an climbing… thing. Then we took that picture and parted ways. You’ll definitely have to come next time.” Kara groaned.

“ _Ugh, I’m so mad. Alex and Maggie invited me to come but I had to- um, errands. I had errands to run,”_ Kara says awkwardly. Lena registers the pause, noting the obvious hesitation likely covering up a lie. She chooses not to comment. _“Not that I should be barging in on your time with Lydia, I get why you needed that. But it still would’ve been cool, right?”_

“Well, we definitely didn’t get to see all of the exhibits so… Next time, we can make it a big double date. With the kids and everything.”

 _“Yeah, yeah, that sounds great.”_ Lena can hear Kara settling in on her couch, chewing in the silence over the phone. Lena just smiles, content to sit. She covers her lap with a blanket and turns on the news. It’s soft to prevent it from waking Lydia, mostly just background noise. She was picking at a stray thread when she realizes what she’s seeing.

Headlines proclaiming her brother had been caught planning to escape from prison. They had already arrested two corrupt guards, a few old henchmen from Lex’s crew, a food supplier for the prison and her mother. According to the news anchor, Lex was being moved to a government-run facility in an unknown location where he’d be held in solitary confinement while they dealt with this. Lena’s stomach churned.

“Are you… Did you see the news?” Lena asks softly. She glances back at Lydia’s bedroom door. She’s worked hard to keep their relation to Lex Luthor from her daughter. She didn’t want her to be trapped by the expectations, by the disappointment, the fear, the anger, the disgust.

 _“Uh, yeah… I am. Are you- are you okay?”_ Kara asks. Lena can hear the pity. She wonders how long it’ll take the reporters- and investigators- to track her down and start harassing her. She wonders how long it’ll take Kara to realize she isn’t worth the trouble.

“I’m fine. I’m changing the channel. I don’t want to think about _him_ anymore. How about you tell me about _your_ day?” Lena smiles, trying to keep from wallowing. She changes the channel to watch an old rerun of a crime show she never got into. It’s better to watch fake crimes than the real life horror show that is her family.

“ _Um, kinda boring. I just… I did some grocery shopping. Called my cousin. He’s a journalist, y’know? And I haven’t seen him in a while but… He was busy. So I just watched some Netflix. Nothing special, nothing fun,”_ Kara sighed. Lena feels guilty now. Worried she’s actually upset that she wasn’t at the museum with them today.

“Well, I’m sorry. I would have invited you but it was… it was a day for just me and Lydia. I… Next time, you should definitely come,” Lena insists.

 _“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that!”_ Kara says quickly. _“I just… I don’t feel great, is all. A little sleepy, a little… Whatever. It’s nothing.”_

“Do you wanna go to bed? I can go,” Lena offers, biting her lip.

 _“No, no, I don’t wanna cut you off. Especially with… what’s happened with, y’know,_ him. _I can… I can stay up.”_ But Lena can hear Kara’s stifled yawn.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow morning when I drop Lydia off. Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” Lena smiles.

_“You’re sure?”_

“Positive! Go to bed, Kara. Sleep tight.”

 _“Bye, Lena. I l- I’ll see you tomorrow.”_ And then the phone call ends. Lena heard the slip. She wondered what it would be like to end phone calls with ‘I love you’. The more she thought about it, the more Lena realized she wanted that. She wanted that from Kara. She wanted that _with_ Kara. She’s been taking things slow since she has Lydia to think about, too. They’ve barely gone beyond making out and Kara has been so good, so patient with her. But Lena is ready for more. As she’s thinking about it, fear pricks at her heart. What if Kara doesn’t want more? What if Kara just thinks of her as a Luthor, nothing more? What if Kara is jealous or upset because she didn’t invite her to the museum today?

 _No, no, stop that,_ Lena chastises herself. She resolves to go to bed, stop herself from thinking about this anymore. Lena stands to go to bed, stifling a yawn into her hand before she goes to check on Lydia, still sleeping soundly, still cuddling with both of her new plush toys. She falls asleep imagining Kara’s arms wrapped around her, ending calls with ‘I love you’ and spending entire weekends relaxing with each other.

Lena is almost positive she falls asleep smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> Well wouldja look at that... There's some plot snuck in there! If you liked this, feel free to leave a comment with what you might like to see in this universe ;D


End file.
